goropism

Meaning

Noun

• A hypothesis that some modern or attested language, such as Dutch, Turkish, or Hebrew, was the original language of mankind.
• An absurd etymology proposed as part of such a hypothesis.

Related

Broader meaning words

• folk etymology

Origin

• From Johannes Goropius Becanus, who proposed a hypothesis according to which Brabantic, a Dutch dialect, was the language spoken in Paradise, -ism.